


Bonded

by Kleptomaniac_Can_Opener



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2008-09-04
Updated: 2011-03-11
Packaged: 2018-02-09 00:30:06
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,580
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1962075
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kleptomaniac_Can_Opener/pseuds/Kleptomaniac_Can_Opener
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They’re the two halves of a whole, destined to a cycle of love and pain.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: Yu-Gi-Oh 5D’s is a Studio Gallop production.  
> 

His earliest memories are of shadows. Dark shadows, friendly shadows, vicious shadows that tried to swallow him whole.  
Shadows have lives of their own. Even now he can see them moving with life and purpose. They don’t bother him so much anymore. He’s grown stronger, learned their tricks. A few he can even control.

It’s a strange ability, but useful. It’s not something he’s ever told anyone either. He’s seen what happens to people when they’re singled out as different. He will never forget the face of the man he saw lynched from the streetlamp, his tongue hanging out of his mouth and eyes rolled into the back of his head.

So he keeps the shadows to himself, listening to their whispers and sometimes speaking back. There are days where his only company are those blankets of darkness that wrap gentle arms around him.

But there are times where he wishes he had someone to share this secret with. Someone he could call friend, or better yet, one he could call Bonded as the shadows say. A Bonded would never leave him, no matter how far apart they are. A Bonded would love him unconditionally and would accept the same in return.  
A Bonded isn’t easy to find.

He made friends, not many but they are true to their hearts and have good souls. The shadows like them, and they’re amused by the puppet games the little one plays on the walls. But it’s a long time before he finally finds The One.

Jack Atlus causes his breath to catch in his throat.

Everything inside of him tingles when the blond is around. His heart trembles with every word he speaks and his blood boils when their eyes match. Even his shadows seem to quiver around him.

They whisper in his ears about the man. ‘He’s the one,’ they say, ‘but be careful. Be careful.’ The shadows waver and wrap around him whenever they continue hissing their warnings about Jack. ‘Be careful. He is love and hate, sugar and poison. He will cherish you and hurt you. Be careful, little shadowling.’

So I only watch Jack Atlus, the man who is light that is wanted and is bane. But even that brings warnings from the shadows.

‘There’s no use in watching the harshness of the light. There’s no use watching the gentleness either. Light is light, dark is dark. He is the one, your Bond, but he will hurt you too.’

The shadows wrap around my legs and pull me back when I think of going to him. They blanket over my body and hug me to the walls. ‘Don’t go to that one.’  
“But I want to.”  
‘We know, we know, shadowling. But light is dangerous, it will only hurt.’

Pain doesn’t bother me. I want him, I want Jack, I want my Bonded. My soul pulls and twists to be with him. Light or dark, yin or yang, he is mine and I am his.

“Let me go. I will go to him.”  
‘No, don’t go.’  
“I will. I will go.”

The shadows loosen their hold on me like reluctant mothers. I touch the edge of one, apologizing. “I’ll return. Hurt or not, I will live, I will return.”  
‘Be careful.’

I don’t want to only watch anymore. I want to touch and feel. He won’t refuse me, I know he won’t.

“Jack.” Standing in his presence is hard. I feel the heat building up inside, almost like my skin is burning. When his eyes lock with mine, my blood boils within my veins.  
“Yusei.” He smirks and wordlessly invites me into his room, locking the door behind us.

I wonder if he talks to the light like I talk to the shadows?

But I let the thoughts drift away when HIS arms finally wrap around me. It feels better than I imagined. I’m finally complete with him here, holding me close and biting my neck. Harshness and gentleness, I can handle the light.

Fill me with your light, I will fill you with my darkness. Become tied to me, become mine as I become yours. Be the one I can whisper secrets to, and I will hold the ones you tell me.

Shadow and light.  
Yin and Yang.  
Soulmates.  
Bonded.


	2. Taiji One: The Starlit Waterfall

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story is about shadow and light, so I’m calling the chapters Taiji. Taiji may be equated to the [One], [Oneness], Unity, as in [attaining One or Unity]; or in simple terms yin and yang. :)

The stars trail them overhead, the constellations easy to see through the wide cracks in the ceiling. Their light and that of the moon is enough to see on this night.

It’s a tunnel they’ve never traveled through before. Until recently, the entrance had been hidden by rubble. Oh, they had an idea it was there, as the train tracks disappeared under the mountain of debris, but none of them had ever thought it was worth the trouble to take a look.

Until now, when something from above had caused the fallen rock and steel to scatter, opening the passage to them.

It’s only him and Jack. It’s just as well.  
Blitz would be complaining by now, Nerve would be arguing with him, and Taka would be trying to break them up while Rally laughed about it.  
Every so often they pass by a skateboard or a bicycle or something else that someone lost down the fractures in the road.

He isn’t worried about their being alone in what is potentially dangerous territory. The shadows are whispering, telling him the way is clear. ‘But that one, you shouldn’t be here with him, shadowling.’

I ignore the comment. I can’t say anything back, not without Jack hearing in the stillness that blankets us like the night. The skittering of mice can be heard blocks away in this silence. I can think what I want to say, but rather than words the shadows pick up to the emotions attached to the thought.

‘Don’t be pulled in by him. He is light, light is dangerous. Come to your senses, shadowling, before you love much more.’

I fist my hands, hearing the faint creak of my gloves as I do so. How can I make them see? Jack is my Bonded. Any pain he gives won’t be on purpose. There’s pain in all love from what I’ve seen. I can bear that pain if I can be with Jack.

Splash!

We both pause at the sound. Jack picks up a tin can that’s lying off to the side and tosses it ahead of us. There’s the sound of water as it hits the ground again. “It’s not deep. Let’s keep going.”  
“Alright.” We’re both wearing boots, it’s not a big deal to walk through water.

There’s a rumbling ahead of us that grows louder the deeper we go. Fortunately, the crack in the ceiling has been steadily growing larger, granting us more light to see by. There’s something large up ahead, large and metallic.

“A train,” I say more to myself than to Jack. We’ve both seen some broken down ones before, this one is in pretty good condition.  
“Yusei, look.” I turn my eyes to stare further up ahead and gasp.

A huge section of ceiling is missing, and coming through is a torrent of water, the source of the loud rumbling. It’s a waterfall. I’ve never seen one before. From how Jack is staring, I can tell he’s never seen one either.  
This area of the subway is near the waterfront. Somehow, the rift was made from the ocean to here. And while there is a small pool gathering some meters in front of the subway car, we can see that the floor is broken through and that’s where majority of the water is going.

We don’t dare get any closer, there’s no telling what will trigger the floor to collapse in on itself. But it’s hard to turn away from the sight of starlight glinting off the water surface like diamonds in the rain.

‘Not too close, not too close.’ The shadows tug on my pants leg, pulling me back. Jack follows my lead and we retreat to a safer distance.  
I see his violet eyes turn to the subway train. He motions for us to go inside.

It’s humid and a bit moist, but we’re no longer being soaked through by the spray. It looks like we may as well have jumped into a shower. I feel his eyes on me, burning me. I look to him in return.

He’s hungry.  
I won’t deny him.

‘Run, shadowling, run from the light.’  
No, I won’t. I want him, I want his light.

Jack pulls me against his chest, his hands yanking my jacket off my shoulders so he can get to my neck. He bites the thick muscle at the base, deepening the bruise already there from his earlier treatment.

We manage to get to an intact bench, tumbling onto the ruined cushion. Clothing is jerked off quickly, in spite of the chill in the air.  
He wants to touch me as much as I want to touch him. I can feel it, how he devours me with his raw passion, how he burns me with his light.

It’s ecstasy and agony. How he holds me so close that I can’t breathe, how he thrusts into my body that I want to scream, then he kisses me and it’s gentle.  
Poison and sugar, the shadows say. It’s a heady cocktail.

Our screams are drowned out by the waterfall. I pant against Jack’s chest, pulling my strength and senses back together. This wasn’t the best place to have sex. We’re probably going to catch colds.  
But I feel warm inside, I can feel Jack still in me. I can’t help a smile and press my face closer to him so Jack can’t see.

He smells nice with sea water on him.

Jack’s fingers begin to comb through my hair. He likes doing that. With it so wet, he pushes it all behind my ears and caresses my face.

‘Such a dangerous path, shadowling. It only leads to pain.’  
Let it come. I can handle pain.  
I no longer want to handle loneliness.

Loneliness feels cold and dead. I couldn’t do that again.  
I need my friends.  
I need Jack.

A shiver tears down my spine, and I’m not entirely sure it’s the chilled temperature. I try to push the shadows away without words. I can manage it sometimes, if I try, but it’s much easier when I can say the commands out loud.

Jack shifts around, reaching for his discarded jacket and pulling it over us. It helps fend off the cold, though we shouldn’t stay much longer.

I follow his gaze back to the waterfall and I’m entranced by it again. I watch as a fish jumps from the main body just to dive into the hole. I wonder where the water goes?

‘Back to sea. There are more holes below. Tread carefully, but we will protect you.’  
Protect Jack too.  
‘Light doesn’t need our protection. Light is light.’ The shadows would wrap around me if they could, but they never come so close when I’m with Jack like this.  
I don’t know if it’s because they won’t, or if they can’t.

Jack makes a grunting noise as he shifts. These seats really aren’t comfortable. On silent agreement, we get up to dress and leave.  
I take a last look at the waterfall before we go, wishing I could take a picture. We should come back here again. Maybe in the summer when it’s warmer so we don’t get sick.

I’m surprised when Jack’s arm winds around my waist. He doesn’t care for public displays of affection, neither do I to be honest, but I suppose this can’t be considered public either with no one but the rats around. I lean into him.  
We walk that way pass the mouth of the tunnel then straight to where we’ve jury rigged a shower in what must have once been a maintenance closet. It works well enough.

The hot water is forced on and we discard our clothes again, letting them fall with wet plops to the tiled floor. His hands run over my body again, this time tracing the paths where he’s left his mark on my skin.  
Between his heat and the heat of the shower I’m being overwhelmed.

‘Don’t love too much, shadowling. Too much more and...’  
The shadows trail off, and I wonder why for a moment before Jack’s mouth is on mine, sucking out my breath and making me moan.

It’s my policy to give as good as I get. I kiss and bite, touch and stroke and grind. We’re pumping each other before we know it, playing with loose skin over hard muscle until we spill in the other’s hand.

We sit under the spray for a while, Jack I know falling asleep at one point. I’m about to wake him when I know the shadows are gone.  
I try to sense them out but they’re nowhere in the room. I can feel a tingling in the back of my mind, a strange feeling I can’t place. It’s not like them to have left. I have never been without the shadows.

Jack groans softly, waking back up. I try to focus on him instead. To truly be alone with him, with Jack. He smiles when he notices my attention, he’s vain as hell and likes it when he knows I’m focused solely on him. “Bed?”  
“Yeah.”

The water is turned off. I grab two raggedy towels from a crate kept by the door, handing one to Jack before he steps outside. There’s no point in worrying about modesty when the others are dead asleep.

But I’m distracted again as I follow him out, absentmindedly scooping up my clothes in the process. The shadows are there, I can feel them better now. Why are they staying so far away? That’s not like them at all. They’re moving strangely through my senses... Like wounded animals...?

An iron grip encloses around my arm and I’m suddenly yanked forward. “Nh!” Jack’s door is shut behind me and I’m flush against his hard chest.  
“What are you thinking about?” I can’t say the truth, we haven’t made it to that stage yet. So I say the first thing that comes to mind.  
“The waterfall.”  
“Mm.” His lips, soft and warm, brush down from my temple to my jaw, making me shiver in a way that has nothing to do with the temperature. “We’ll go back soon.”

We crawl into bed once we’re finished drying off. Jack falls back asleep not long after lying down, and I turn my attention back to the shadows. “Where are you?”  
‘Here, we are here.” They sound weak. Shadows should never be weak while in darkness. I don’t scare easily, but that thought disturbs me in a way that can lead to fear if I let it.  
“What’s wrong?”  
‘Hurt.’  
“How?”  
‘Light is light, dark is dark.’

Frustration wells up in my chest. I sigh and press deeper into Jack’s arms to try and sleep. I’ll talk more with the shadows later, when I’m alone and won’t have to worry about one of the others overhearing me.  
But they’re wiggling around like snakes and worms in the back of my mind. Whispering too low for me to hear but too loud to let me rest. I want to drown them out even knowing that it’s not possible.

“Damn.” The emergency light flashes on, making it harder to find sleep. Jack wakes up from his own rest, blinking slowly and muttering a curse of his own.  
I pause.  
His expression. I’ve never seen it so soft. His smirk is lazy instead of sharp. His eyes hold a tenderness that makes my heart hurt. It’s like being too close to the sun. I’m blinded for the brilliance.  
The poison and the sugar really are blended together, unable to be separated.

He threads his fingers through my hair then pulls me closer, laying me on top of his larger body. Is he really awake? He can’t be... This Jack... This Jack is unknown to me.

“Yusei, say you’re mine.” He twines our fingers together and draws me in to claim my lips. I’m burning and crumbling, the shadows are silent. I can’t deny him this.  
“I’m yours.”

I’m yours, and you are mine.  
My Bonded.


	3. Taiji Two: Cloak & Dagger

The city is like a junkyard, only a sad shell of its former glory. Oppressed citizens live and breathe the polluted air from the factories. Even so, they struggle on to survive, casting shadows in their wake.

But people break.  
They snap and scream, fighting and causing havoc until they’ve casted a bloodied cloak over everything. Fear spreads, sometimes rational but more often not. It feeds the inner demons, letting them grow strong until it all comes to a crescendo.

But it doesn’t end. The chaos in men’s hearts only ebbs for a while, rebuilding its strength until it’s time to cast the next bloody cloak. The only question is if it’s casted by the side of Light or Shadow.

‘The light, the light.’  
“What about the light?” I watch the shadows dance across the back wall, moving in frantic patterns that would convince the others we’re haunted by demons if they saw.  
‘It comes. It rages, shadowling. Run, run now.’  
“What do you mean? Explain it to me.”

Ever since the night Jack and I discovered the waterfall, since the night the shadows left me only to return weak, they’ve been restless. Their constant chatter fills my head, words too clipped and wispy to understand.

‘Light will hurt you, kill you. Run, shadowling.’  
“He wouldn’t. Now explain what you mean.”  
‘Light rages.’ The shadows sink into the walls, watching. Wary.

My door is thrown open, making me jerk around at the sudden invasion of my privacy. Jack stands in the doorway, back stiff and hands fisted by his sides. “Yusei.”  
“Jack.” He steps inside and closes the door behind him. There’s less force, but the clicking of the lock sounds final. Then with a few, short steps he’s in front of me.

I can feel his warmth, his breath. My blood is heating but a cold shiver runs down my spine. The shadows were right. There’s an anger there, a rage. I don’t know why or who the target is, but it’s boiling just beneath his skin.

I remove my gloves and run my fingers through his hair, it calms him sometimes. The golden strands are softer than one would think. But Jack tenses more at my touch. I try not to frown, but the expression on his face says I failed. “Jack?” I stare into his eyes. I want to see what’s going on in his head except his thoughts stay elusive.

‘Watch out, shadowling.’  
Stay back. Stay out of this.  
‘Light is poison and pain. Get away while you can.’  
This is my choice.

Jack suddenly grabs my arms, his grip firmer than what’s comfortable. He stares hard into my eyes but I still can’t read his emotions pass the cloak there. “You’re mine, aren’t you?”  
“What?” That’s certainly out of the blue, especially for Jack. It’s not his style to ask such questions. Then his leg hooks behind mine, making us tumble backwards onto the floor. “Nh!” The breath is knocked from my lungs at the collision, but at least we’re on the old wooden boards instead of the concrete. I could have cracked my head open if we had. I suck in a mouthful of air and shove Jack off. “What the hell?” I shout. But his weight is back on me before I can move again. He’s hissing beneath his breath, I can hardly make out what he’s saying.  
“What they say, it isn’t true.” They? Who’s they and what are they saying about what? What has you so riled up?

‘Let’s us fight, shadowling. Let us.’  
Stay back!

“Talk to me, Jack.” I grab the lapels of his jacket and give him a sharp shake. “Stop acting like this and talk to me.” He seizes my wrists and slams my arms back onto the floor. The sudden strength surprises me more than the shock of impact. Has he always been this strong? I’m no lightweight but I feel like I’m fighting a lion.

Jack’s hands release my wrists, but that’s quickly followed by a flash of steel.

He slides the dagger to my throat. I feel the sharp tip scrape over my skin without breaking it. “Jack, what are you doing?” He lifts the blade away then brings it down, burying it in the floor next to my neck. “Jack?”  
“Stay there and don’t move.”

Jack pulls off his coat then his shirt. His eyes are diamond hard. I’ve never seen them quite like this before. This Jack is unknown to me.

He kisses me hard, his tongue dominating and his hands sliding under my shirt. His thigh pushes in between my legs, pressing against my groin. It would all be overwhelming if not for my confusion.

I break the kiss to breathe, staring at him. “Jack, wha-”  
“Say you’re mine.” His hands cup my face, like he thinks I’ll run away. “Like last time, say you’re mine and only mine.” His eyes... Why does he look anxious? What has you so worked up?  
“I’m yours.” If you need to hear it, I’ll say it all you want. “I’m yours, Jack.” The tension in his shoulders relaxes. He releases my face then grabs the dagger and tosses it aside.

Jack pulls off my shirt, tangling the material around my wrists above my head. “Jack?”  
“You said you’re mine.”  
“You’re being strange, Jack. What’s this about?” I don’t feel threatened anymore. I would have kicked him by now if I did, but I can’t make heads or tails of his recent behavior.  
“Don’t ask questions. Say you’re mine.”  
“... I’m yours. I’m only yours.” He bends down and kisses me again, this time slow and gentle. My heart races in my chest, making my blood roar in between my ears.

Who is this Jack, this Jack with such perplexing behavior?

The rest of my clothes are removed, then he takes his time running his hands over my body. He’s acting like he’s never touched me before, like he’s memorizing every part of me. It makes me shake all over, his touch super sensitizing my skin. “Say it again,” he says in between kisses to my chest. “Say it, Yusei.”  
“I’m yours, Jack.”

I’m engulfed in a blanket of warmth that’s almost too much to handle. He’s burning me from the inside, searing me with his presence as he engraves himself into my being. Every kiss, every thrust leaves me panting for air. “Jack!”  
“Not yet. A little more.”  
“Jack!”

There’s a building up of energy along the edge of my awareness. I can’t place it, and truth be told I can’t pull my thoughts together enough to care about it even as it prickles against my senses.

“Again.”  
“I’m yours!” He purrs against me like a grand wild cat, the sound reverberating through us in a great rumble. His mouth latches onto my neck, sucking, marking my flesh. “Ahn!”  
“Cum, Yusei. Cum for me now.”  
“Nh!” Something slams into me as I peak, a white feeling of power that tears through me in a searing shock that makes my body burn all over. “AHHH!”  
“Yusei!”

My breathing is labored and my body’s nonresponsive. I can’t focus my eyes beyond a shaky blur. The shadows are screaming in the back of my mind, but I put what energy I can scrape together into keeping them off.

“Jack...” The blurs turn dark as I lose the last of my consciousness.  
“Yusei!”


	4. Taiji Three: Red Rain

It was a day where red rain fell from the sky. The red had splattered on his face and soaked his clothes. It weighed him down until he collapsed to his knees.

That was the first and only time the shadows had killed for him.

He hadn’t understood at the time what the man had been trying to do. But he had been scared, and the shadows were angry, hissing and screeching in bloody yowls.

They rampaged in from under the man, surging up to swallow the offender whole. There was a wet squishing sound, and when the shadows flew away, there was only a mass of minced meat and the red rain.

‘We took care of him, shadowling. Do not fear.’ The shadows wrapped around him, cool and warm as they lapped up the blood. ‘We protect you.’  
“Thank you.”

The shadows are coiled in the corners of the room when I wake. Last night had been intense, and I’m confused to what had happened. It looks like Jack moved me to the bed after I passed out. I suppress a groan as I sit up and look to the closest dark patch. “Why are you hiding there?”  
‘Cautious.’ I shift into a kneel and hold my arms out to them.  
“Come here.” Black tendrils separate from the walls and crawl to me, draping over my arms and shoulders. I immediately feel better having them so close. “Do you still hurt?”  
‘No. Healed.’  
“Stay with me today.” I don’t know why, but I have the feeling that they should stay near.  
‘Yes, shadowling. We will.’ They wrap around my body like a second skin, their essence pulsing gently with my heartbeat. ‘Better. Much better.’

Muscles ache and complain as I get dressed. “What happened...?”  
‘Light is light, dark is dark.’  
“Light and dark, huh...?” I run my fingers through my hair, combing out any tangles. “Where is Jack?”  
‘Not here. Gone.’

Light is light, dark is dark. Are we not compatible after all, even though we are Bonded?  
What had happened last night?

And where is Jack?

The station is empty when I look around. There are a couple notes from the others, but nothing that tells me where Jack could be. I need to talk to him. I have to know what happened.

‘Leave him, shadowling. He will kill you.’  
“He won’t.” I leave the subway to go topside. The day is drab and grey but clear. I won’t have to worry about rain.  
‘He will. Be careful of the light. Careful.’  
They say careful, but I want to be reckless. I’ve spent all of my life being cautious. For once I want to throw myself into a matter and let what happens happen.  
‘Careful.’  
Damn it. I’ll listen.

The alleys are littered with debris and drunkards and addicts. Nothing unusual, nothing changed. Satellite is the same way it’s been since I can remember. It’s hard to believe that this place was once a sprawling city like Neo-Domino is said to be.  
‘It was. We remember. Many battles, many lives. Light and shadow have always been and will always be.’

The shadows weave over my body, making my clothes move like there’s a wind blowing by. I wonder what memories have them so excited. What other shadowlings have they known?  
‘Many, known many. Some strong, some weak, some as powerful as Gods.’  
“And what am I?”  
‘Still growing.’  
“Heh.” I guess I still have a lot to learn. A tendril flows up my neck, caressing my jaw.  
‘Will grow and grow. Perhaps God too.’  
“I don’t need that kind of power.”  
‘The truly powerful never do.’

I pause at those words. “What?” But my only answer is a dark, wispy chuckle. They won’t say more on the matter until they feel like it.  
‘When you are ready, shadowling. Not now. Later.’  
“It’s always later.”

‘Danger.’ I snap my gaze forward. A man has just stepped into the alley, his shadow stretching towards me. Things like that stopped being intimidating years ago. You can’t be scared of ordinary shadows when you speak to living ones. But what about this man has them on alert?  
“G-give me y-yo-yer cash!” Oh, that’s it. Shaking hands and a gun are dangerous, especially when the person’s eyes are dilated from a drug crash.  
“I don’t have anything.”  
“Liar! H-Hand ov’r your shit n-now!”  
“Calm down.” I slowly pull out my pockets to show him I don’t have anything valuable on me. “See? I have nothing.”  
“Yer jacket! Give it! Ha-hand it over!”  
“It’s not worth anything. Just go on your way.” The hairs suddenly stand on the back of my neck. Not good.  
“You’re lying! Liar!” Whatever he’s yelling about, it has nothing to do with my being as broke as he is. My body tenses, I can feel the shadows gathering. “Liar! Liar!”  
“Just calm down.” His finger squeezes the trigger, I try to dive out of the way.

The shadow scream.  
One shot.  
Two.

Damn, I guessed wrong.

The bullet seems to move in slow motion as it heads straight for my eye. Then the shadows jump from the ground, swallowing the bullet in a great, black maw. The man’s jaw drops to the floor and he turns as white as the Stardust Dragon. “W-What the hell...?!” The shadows lunge for him.  
“Stop!” But they don’t listen. The shadows open wide and engulf my would-be killer, just like the night of the red rain.

There’s the squishing sound that haunts my dreams, then comes the red. I hold up my arms just in time to keep from getting splashed in the face. I hear their lapping moments before the shadows glide over to me, drinking the hot blood from my clothes. “Why... Why didn’t you stop?”  
‘We need the strength, shadowling.’ They wrap around my body, hugging me in that way that makes me think of a mother’s arms.  
“The strength to do what?”  
‘To destroy the light.’


	5. Taiji Four: The Howling

The shadows come and go like water over broken stone. The streetlights struggle to suck in more power but only manage to create unsteady flickers that could make a person question their sobriety. The turmoil in his body isn’t helping matters any. It’s like his legs are made of glass and his knees are heavy pins threatening to shatter them with every step.

It burns, everything inside burns with every cry of That.  
It’s a deep, savage cry that rings in the most primitive part of the mind. If white had a sound it would roar like the Howling.

The shadows wrap around him, shielding him. He can still hear it clearly but the burning is gone. ‘Not strong enough. Need more.’  
“No, no more.”  
‘More. Need more or you will die, shadowling. The light comes, it rages.’  
“So let it rage.”

I grind my teeth and lean against the wall. I left behind the pile of meat that used to be human several streets back, but the shadows keep rambling on about needing more such carnage. I can’t let them do that. If I let them do what they want where would the line be drawn, where would they stop? I can’t risk it. I won’t risk it.

When my legs feel like legs again, I return to searching for Jack. I need to see him. The need is a desperate lump sitting in my chest.

The shadows crawl over me, caressing my face and body with cool fingers. ‘Still too weak. You’re not ready, shadowling.’  
“Ready for what?”  
‘To fight, to destroy the light.’

They can’t mean Jack. I rather be the one killed than harm him by my own hand.

‘Need more.’  
“No!” The shadows flare up around me at the outburst, as if reacting to me, like I had thrown oil onto a fire.  
‘Yes, there’s your power. Need more, do more. Fight the light. Destroy it before it destroys us.’

I lean against a wall, my heart pounding from the adrenaline rush. “Why? Why is it raging?”  
‘Your Bonded is conflicted. You’ve hurt him.’ No, that isn’t right. I haven’t done anything to hurt Jack... have I?  
“That’s not possible,” I hiss through my teeth.  
‘You hurt him just as he hurts you. Poison and sugar.’ The shadows curl over my face, caressing, stroking. ‘Run, shadowling. Run if you will not fight.’

What should I do?

The Howling suddenly spikes, making my head feel like it’s going to explode. “Ahn!” My mind blanks and when I come to I’m on the ground. The shadows are swirling around me like snakes, their movements jerky and agitated.

‘Up, get up. You must run. The light comes, it’s raging! Raging!’ I’ve never felt such urgency from them. I jump to my feet, feeling too heavy but forcing myself to be swift. They lead me on a dizzying path through the alleys.  
“What’s happening?” I demand.  
‘The light rages.’  
“Why?” The shadows remain silent. “Answer me!”

Their continued silence rings hollow in my ears, almost as loud as the rumbles on the edges of my senses like wolves waiting for the signal to attack. Is this the light, this attacker who won’t show itself?

Is it Jack’s light?

Silence crashes all-around me, the eye of the storm amid the chaos for a moment of eternity. Then the shadows screech and wail in fury. “What?!” They wrap around me like they have before. “Stop!” Their cool touch covers my face, completely cocooning me.

I’ve never experienced anything like this before. I always thought if the shadows did this it would be unbearably cold, but it’s warm in a strange way. I can still see, even if the world is a swirling mass of black and purple. It’s a lot like floating in water.

White lightning tears across the landscape, the quiet broken by screaming. “What’s happening?”

Several of the white streaks suddenly pull together, creating a shape that stretches high into the sky with elegant wings stretching far out to each side. The dragon’s tapered tail rips through the violet clouds like the sharpest of blades, and perfectly curved claws are posed ready to strike. Stunning yet eloquent. I understand instantly nothing could be more deadly.

‘RUN!’ Before I can attempt to run in this strange place the Howling screeches all around me.  
“Ahh!” I grab my head and fall to my knees. The pain reverberates inside my skull, increasing with each passing. It feels like every cell in my body is being shaken apart. My eyes are still open, I know they are, but I can no longer see. I can’t hear. I can’t breathe.

Arms slide around my body, powerful, familiar. I know this scent, this touch.  
Jack.

The Howling quiets and my senses return in a rush like a bag had been pulled off from over my head. His arms are gone at the same time. I jerk my gaze back in the direction of the Light, taking in its inhuman majesty and grace. The shadows gather in force, blocking my view of the white beast. I have seen the shadows morph countless times, but rarely was it into anything identifiable. My breath catches hard in my throat as two long tails whip around the muscular frame of a black tiger, strength rippling in every fiber of its being.

Dragon and tiger.  
Light and shadow.  
Yin and yang.

The significance isn’t lost on me, but there’s no time to appreciate it as the Light screams its rage again. The very world shakes, threatening to splinter at the edges.

Stop it.

The two beasts charge, the world wavers. I feel a burning in my chest. It rises until it’s searing my throat, scorching the back of my eyes.  
Their claws meet and lightning streaks across the black and violet. The world itself is screaming.

“STOP!” Crimson power shoots up from below me, around me, blasting into the endless sky to follow my rage, my uncertainty, my frustrations. There’s the sound of glass cracking, then the glass shatters and the world crumbles away.

I slump to the ground, back in the world I know. The uneven concrete digs into my face. I feel a roiling heat twisting out from my stomach to my limbs, tumbling to every fingertip then rebounding into my shoulder blades and up my neck where it disappears like a snuffed flame.

Maybe minutes or perhaps hours later my vision begins to return in fuzzy blobs. I can only guess that I’m still in the same alley as before, and it seems it rained at some point. I can taste the water on my lips and smell the scent of wet concrete. I can feel the cold soaking my clothes and numbing my skin.

A massive blob appears, blocking the light streaming into the alley. It comes towards me snickering and speaking in rough tones that make my danger sense go off. I try to move, mentally screaming at my body to follow my commands to stand and fight, but only my fingers obey by curling into fists. I want to yell, to tell the ignorant fool that he’s in danger even though he only intends me ill. My voice never comes. The shadows rise up and one blur engulfs the other.

Then there’s red.  
The rain.  
The squishing sound of meat.  
The slurping.

I close my eyes. Even distorted smears are too much. I don’t want to see another life reduced to ashes like garbage in the incinerator. The thought reminds me of what had only just happened in that other place, the shadow plane. And the Howling. My head hurts as the memories come unbidden of that terrible white sound, the unmatched screaming of the outraged dragon. Even just the recollection of that cry...

That last cry had sounded like words. The fury had tainted its voice but I’m sure the Howling had been speaking, not just screaming.

“Nnh...” After a short eternity I finally shift myself up enough to maneuver over to the closest wall. My flesh is so deaden I can barely feel the brick against my back. I’m completely drained and everything aches like I have a bad flu.

I sense the shadow snake more than feel it as it twists around my body. ‘We heal. We heal you, shadowling.’ There’s heat like static as the shadows move over me.  
The Light, tell me what it was saying. I want to know.  
‘Don’t think of it, shadowling. Rest, regain strength.’ I force my eyes back open and I’m surprised to find that I can see almost see perfectly fine again.  
“Tell me,” I hiss. The Howling keeps rerunning through my head, again and again. What were you trying to say?  
‘Don’t, shadowling!’ That roar fills my ears but it’s the memory of the dragon’s face that tells me what it had said.

[You will belong to no one else!]

The shadows pause as I tense. “What?” I look to the nearest one but it drops away. “What did the Light mean? Why was it saying such a thing? What does it have to do with Jack?” The heat and static prickle over me more quickly, melting away the ache and stiffness. I jump to my feet as soon as I’m able, staring hard at the shadows swaying around me like a plain of black wheat. “Answer me now! What’s going on? Do you know what’s happening to Jack?” The main shadow body waves back and forth listlessly, like it’s sympathetic to my confusion. “What does it have to do with the rage?” I finally feel some concern from the shadows. They’re warring with themselves on what to tell me.  
‘There’s another.’  
“Another? Another what?”  
‘Another light. A Bond more suited to you.’

**Author's Note:**

> [Want to stay updated on my art and stories?](http://dawneastpoint.deviantart.com/journal/Check-Here-for-my-Updates-638603365)  
>  It'll be two steps because I'm not allowed to mention my personal blog on here.


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